Depression Can Affect The Relationship Between Mother And Child
Edwin Hubbell Chapin was right when he said that “no language can express the strength, beauty and heroism of a mother’s invincible love.” But is there anything one can do in relation to the fact that depression can affect the relationship between mother and child?
Only a mother and a child know of the bond that unites them. It is powerful, strong and unbreakable if both parties want and love is deeply felt. However, there can be many external and internal factors that can influence this strong bond.
Depression is without a doubt one of the most frightening diseases of our time. The condition is characterized by feeling misunderstood and lonely. For a mother, it can also be problematic for the environment, especially for the children, who perceive the condition even more intensely than if it were themselves.
Parental influence
The influence of the parents on the children is crucial for their development. The mother’s state of mind has a strong impact on the baby and is very important in the first days of an infant’s life.
After childbirth, it is quite normal for mothers to feel insecure. However, this can easily lead to a psychological setback, which has a direct impact on the infant. If this happens, the mother has to pull herself up by the hair and look at the situation a little from above, but it can be difficult.
A depression can affect the relationship between mother and child, and the child’s development if it lasts for a long period of time. The child will suffer from it and try to meet the demands of the parents before they emerge with their own needs.
Studies of how depression can affect the relationship between mother and child
Donald Winnicott, a renowned psychoanalyst, played one of the most important roles in the treatment of postpartum depression and its impact on children. In fact, his interest was only really aroused when he was visited by a woman who was worried about his son’s weight loss.
Winnicott noted that the woman seemed depressed. He also noted that the woman’s busyness with the boy seemed like a relief to her because it prevented her from wondering about all the other things she used to do.
Through contact with the child, he found out that the woman was being abused by her husband. The husband raised his own self-esteem and his sense of happiness at the expense of the wife. It was only when the boy became aware of the situation that he began to eat normally again.
Despite the boy’s improved eating habits, Winnicott recommended that the mother should receive psychological treatment because it would also have a positive effect on the son.
How does it feel to be a mother and depressed?
Depressed mothers disconnect the emotional impulses and rob the children of the
necessary care so that it can affect a child’s behavior. In this article, we wrote about how a child stopped eating, but the emotional impact can vary from child to child.
If children do not receive security and care from their next of kin, they will create a false self-understanding. It will make them meet the wishes and needs of others rather than satisfy their own needs.
This whole process can result in an inability to relate to peers and the environment. One has even seen examples of infants who stopped smiling out of desire. They simply smiled only to please others. It shows how depression can affect the relationship between mother and child as well as the child and other people.
How to improve the relationship between mother and child?
Depression is a complex disorder that is difficult to overcome. Depressed mothers need a great deal of willpower and encouragement to overcome the disorder. It can be a help to use the energy to give the child lots of love.
We must also be aware that we are not wandering encyclopedias. Just because we are parents, we do not know it all. Even if the child’s physical needs are met, the child is not immune to conflict. We need to face our own problems and help our children do the same.
“Motherhood is the most amazing and the hardest thing.”
–Ricki Lake–
Depression must be taken seriously. It is not enough to just neglect the suffering or to pretend that everything is fine. It will only help to aggravate the situation. The most important thing is to listen and understand.
In addition , of course, it is crucial to get psychotherapeutic treatment. A skilled professional therapist can help and prevent the depression from becoming too difficult to treat, relieve the patient’s symptoms and help the relatives, including the children.
“Everything I am or hope to become, I owe to my mother in heaven.”
–Abraham Lincoln–
A depression can affect the relationship between mother and child to a large extent, and it can have a major impact on the child’s development. It is therefore necessary to treat a depression in the best possible way so that the children can have the happy childhood to which they are entitled.
